Littlestuff Weekender-11-19-2011

The best outcome for the “Super Committee” is for there to be no outcome at all. If they devise a plan to cut the $1.2 trillion over ten years, you can wager your mule, cow and eldest child that the “savings” will be end loaded in the out years. With no plan from the lackluster 12 the $1.2 trillion in cuts will be spread evenly between Defense and Domestic programs…but again over the next ten years. So what’s the difference? The auto-cut feature defines where the so-called savings come from whereas a Committee generated plan would probably involve more wild assumptions and ghost-like savings plans. Either way they’ll lie, obfuscate and hyper-ventilate, but the automatic cuts have a smidgen of transparency.

Hungary has now jumped onto the radar of counties that are deep in economic doo-doo. Meanwhile old reliable Greece and Italy are dragging Portugal and Spain with them towards the precipice of fiscal disaster while the rest of the EU frets about whether to backpedal or jump in. The sound of clicking dominoes has become the official anthem of the European Union as they all lean on the increasingly reluctant Germans to prop them up. As you may be aware, our own Federal Reserve has been quite generous with European banks who have found themselves over-leveraged. Of course we propped them up with digital dollars….backed by nothing….so that when we release the cap on our artificially low interest rates, the fiat-based European loans can contribute to our accelerating inflation. One could complain about a conspiracy, but I find it hard to believe that any worthwhile conspirator could be so clueless and so stupid. Come to think of it, maybe a Princeton professor could be that airheaded.

Had a terrific conversation with Congressman Jim Jordan (R-4thC.D.OH) on the air yesterday as I sat in for Brian Wilson. He’s one of the few warriors consistently fighting for fiscal sanity and chairs the Republican Policy Committee….the conservative alternative to noodle-spined leadership. He resides in the Urbana area and appears to take his job and his service seriously.

The House failed to muster a super majority to pass the Balanced Budget Amendment (261-165) yesterday, but don’t fret. It was largely symbolic since the legislation had no teeth. Seems like Congress spends a lot of valuable time passing meaningless toothless legislation to give one party or the other some bragging points. Add to this wind-whistling legislation such other compelling acts as “National Earthworm Day,” or National Live-Bait Week,” and the naming of post offices and federal buildings after slimy career politicians, and you can understand why it’s so difficult for them to seriously address our national problems….there is not enough time.

Here in Ohio the Ohio Democratic Party and their union toadies have pledged to fight the Workplace Freedom Amendment (right-to-work) to the very last person. It’s nice to know they are so committed to SOMETHING since they expended massive efforts and millions of dollars to insure that our local communities and schools are caught in fiscal vises (Issue 2). It’s all about priorities….no matter how screwed up they may be.

As someone who has been a youth coach and a licensed athletic official, I should weigh in on the garbage that has confronted Penn State. First, if the allegations are true, then Jerry Sandusky should be castrated with a dull chain saw without anesthetic and tossed into the nearest hog pen. Second, if the hierarchy was unaware, they were apparently too stupid to manage an operation of that size, and if they were aware, they should get the identical treatment that Sandusky deserves. Complicity, silence and enabling are just as damaging as the original disturbing acts. It’s all about power. Sandusky had the power and the influence to bend those boys to please him, and the Penn State coaches and administrators had the power to stop it. Happy Valley was transformed into a despicable den of despair.

Have a great weekend as you prepare for Giving Thanks.

Comment:  cearlwriting@hotmail.com

www.littlestuff-minoosha.blogspot.com

Tue. & Wed., 6-7:00pm, 1370 WSPD, Toledo  www.wspd.com

  

Gimmicks and Tricks

Sleight of hand is commonplace in the halls of government power. Our superior elites continuously dazzle us with their “now you see it, now you don’t” routine of promises and broken vows. The pathways of United States’ history is littered with the shards of broken trust as our political masters pledge to be responsible….and fail, fail again and again. The most glaring recent example is the so-called “Super Committee.” I’ve witnessed more integrity and intelligence tumbling out of the clown car at the circus than I’ve observed from this bunch of worn out hacks. Yet, Boehner, Reid, McConnell and Pelosi smilingly go through the motions, precisely following their scripts, alternately sharing their fears and their hopes about the ultimate package for preserving our republic for another day…..just one day. Why one day? Because they are so weak-kneed they cannot kick the can any further down the road.

Perhaps I should not be so cynical because they have given me another twenty-four hours to prepare for our national and the global economic meltdown. Yes, I should be thankful for small favors. It is difficult, however because the people who are now offering me band aids for our nation’s fiscal woes, are the identical folks who severed our limbs of prosperity and liberty. In those rare instances where they were not directly responsible for our ills, they were droolingly complicit and compliant. I am fed up with gimmicks and tricks. I am sick of lying clueless politicians who seek to enrich themselves at my expense. I am tired of career politicians who “speak the speak” and say nothing. I am nauseated by slick political operatives who are continually trying to fool me. I am radically pissed by bureaucrats who sit in their cubicles and make life-altering choices for me. I am furious with all the single-digit I.Q. clowns who believe they know what’s best for me.

The elegant simplicity of the Declaration of Independence and The Constitution of the United States of America has been dragged through a cesspool of avarice and incompetence by a political and bureaucratic class that has no class…no common sense…no true compassion…no integrity…no honor…no principles…and no self-discipline. They have taken the second greatest guide for enlightened self government in human history and transformed it into a meaningless relic. They have stolen our treasure, our time and our dreams. They have grabbed our liberty and traded it for their egomaniacal power trips. They are not satisfied. They continue to assault our freedom and tax us into poverty. They consistently pass huge incomprehensible pieces of legislation that overwhelm our businesses, our citizens and our futures. If our political class and their bureaucratic henchmen were living under strict Sharia law, their hands would be severed from their lying thieving bodies. If they were living under early U.S. frontier justice, their twitching bodies would be dangling from a massive oak tree. If they were living in Revolutionary times, they would be hauling tail to Canada or back to England. So why do WE tolerate them?

So far you’ve probably concluded that I’m angry with politicians and bureaucrats. My seething does not stop with them. I am outraged by a soft, weak, dependent American populace that has NO sense of self-reliance. Sometimes I suspect that Gumby’s DNA has infiltrated our national gene pool. No spines, no bones of integrity and no firm understanding about the mess we are facing. Even people who pride themselves on their knowledge of and devotion to the Constitution vote for and support the Boehners and the McConnells because……”they’re not as bad as Democrats.” Scarlet fever isn’t as bad as typhoid, but neither one fits into my cavalcade of hits. No, both parties are guilty of writing and passing omnibus bills that are loaded with hand grenades and turds to foul the lives our citizens. Both parties have shared power and collusion for 150 years as they have led us or driven us down the path toward tyranny and away from our constitutional liberties. Both parties have protected and elected perverts, thieves, liars, adulterers and egotistical megalomaniacs. We have witnessed a massive bipartisan screwing, and we are either too weak or too cowardly to challenge the status quo. Perhaps we are too ignorant or too stupid to understand that liberty is a gift from God and must be preserved and protected….even when it’s our “friends” who are wresting it from us.

Sadly, I’m beginning to suspect that we have gone beyond the point of “no return.” I shall continue to scream, plead and goad my fellows into action and counter-action, but I intend to implement some personal remedies for the chaos that I see. From this point forward I declare our small acreage, The Little Pat-Ch of Paradise, as a sovereign state…seceding from all other political jurisdictions that claim dominance over our property. We shall henceforth be known as the nation of Patch on the continent of Paradise. If you drive past our new little nation and witness a cluster of jackbooted S.W.A.T. officers assaulting our place, take joy in the fact that the empire-building nation has once again taken on a weak little country. If history is a guide, we can hold out for ten years and collect billions in aid. Sounds like a plan.

Comment:  cearlwriting@hotmail.com

www.littlestuff-minoosha.blogspot.com

On the air Friday afternoon from 3-6:00pm for Brian Wilson.

1370 WSPD, Toledo   www.wspd.com

Prevention or Oppression

We have heard the refrain many times, ”if this legislation (or rule) can save just one life, it will be worth it.” Bull! Do-gooder legislation, regulations and rules can rarely be empirically identified as saving lives, but they always lead to more restrictions and oppression. If our political leaders and their bureaucratic toadies were serious about wanting to protect and improve our lives, they would get out of the way and allow the ingenuity of the American people discover the keys to happiness, prosperity and contentment. All government at any level can deliver with consistency is red tape and nonsensical bureaucratic mazes. Besides….government’s mandate is to protect life….not to insulate it from all potential harm. One could argue that unfulfilled expectations can be psychologically harmful so government may actually be harming our citizens while claiming to protect them.

If politicians and cubicle-bound bureaucrats were really interested in protecting the American people from harm, they would enact two critical laws: They would ban “stupid,” and they would require that every adult in the nation be armed. Obviously, banning stupidity is problematic, but so many harmful outcomes are the result of stupid actions by the person who was injured or killed. Banning stupidity will NOT eliminate stupid behavior. Government would not deterred, however because they ban or forbid any number of things that occur despite their Nanny-like intervention. Also banning stupidity would mean that the entire political and bureaucratic apparatus of the nation would be forced to resign….unless they’re too stupid to understand that they are monumentally stupid, or…as usual they exempt themselves from legislation or rules that oppress the rest of us.

Requiring adult citizens to be armed (except for those who have been legally or clinically judged as dangerous) would generate a sense of security. Bad guys and bad girls might be less willing to accost and harm innocent citizens if they KNEW that a .38, .40 or .45 could be on the scene in a flash without the necessity for a 911 call. One of my favorite quotes is a line by author Robert Heinlein, “An armed society is a polite society.” Obviously neither of these two proposals has a snowball’s chance of adoption, but that nugget alone should illustrate how governments’ protective benevolence is a scam. Their effort to wrap us with cocoons merely restrains our arms and our movements so that we are unable to ward off danger when it approaches. Too often government protection evolves into our becoming complacent and unaware. The false security provided by grandiose programs and public relations campaigns lulls us into an artificial sense of safety……as we willingly sacrifice a little more of our liberty.

With a population of roughly 310 million people in the United States it is folly to assume that the government can protect all of us or a significant number of us from each and every unique potential danger. The bureaucrats and their misfit legislative enablers create and generate a myriad of laws, rules and regulations which may or may not enhance our individual personal safety, but they do dramatically interfere with and impede our commerce and our daily living. Their yeomen’s efforts to protect us end up confusing us, and any bureaucrat worth his daily salt should be aware that confused and disoriented people are more susceptible to danger and injury. In essence, the massive undertaking by our governments at all levels to limit our exposure to harm have created an environment that lulls us into a sense of well-being while danger still stalks us, and they have constructed a maze of red tape and prohibitions that lies in wait to trip us and entangle us.

The Nanny State has gradually transformed our nation from a collection of rugged, self-reliant individuals into a whimpering population of National Assisted-Living residents. If we do not stop them, and reverse the trend and undo the damage, we will become prisoners of the total-care state apparatus….just when the disintegration of the overspending, fiscally irresponsible government occurs. Just when our self reliance and strength are most needed for our survival, our skill set will have atrophied. Timing is everything.

Comment:  cearlwriting@hotmail.com

www.littlestuff-minoosha.blogspot.com

Tue. & Wed.,6-7:00pm, 1370 WSPD, Toledo  www.wspd.com

Balanced but not Equal

Until recent times every American student has learned the axiom of United States’ constitutional government that our 3-headed federal construct is limited by checks and balances built into the system. The three branches—executive, legislative and judicial—exercise certain powers and oversights that in theory offset one another. Many people err, however, when they consider the branches equal. They are not. For example the shoe and the foot are both larger than the pebble, but the tiny stone in the boot can make walking an uncomfortable undertaking. Two entities do not have to be equal in order for one to judiciously restrict the other. The three federal branches have different functions, constitutional powers, and responsibilities. They are not equal. One of the great distortions of the Twentieth Century was the emergence of the courts as power players in the national arena. Their portfolio for cases brought before them is to determine if matters of law were applied correctly so that plaintiffs and defendants could rely on a just system.

My description of the legal system will not be found in Black’s or Blackstone. It is simply my interpretation of The Constitution of the United States of America and its recognition of the necessity for a system of courts to oversee disputes between citizens and confrontations between citizens and governments. This piece is a perception rather than a précis. In my view there appear to be three primary determinants for identifying the relative power of a branch of government: the constituency, its role, available remedies for enforcing its actions. For example, the President is the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces and the Secretary of Defense is a cabinet level position in the Executive Branch. The people and the various electors choose the President who appoints the Secretary of Defense…subject to Senate confirmation. The House of Representatives is responsible for funding the military, but is not constrained by the desires of the President or his SecDef. In essence, the President has, subject to the War Powers Act and posse comitatus limitations, the entire military apparatus plus various federal agencies with police power to enforce the law. The Congress does hold the “power of the purse,” and the Courts have the force of decree but must rely on voluntary compliance because the courts have no police or military power.

Historically, in my view, there have been two great shifts in the balance of power among the three branches. The 1803 case, Marbury vs. Madison, established the notion of judicial review and the Supreme Court’s authority for determining the constitutionality of legislation and executive actions. Prior to this ruling the Court was viewed as a mere dispute-resolution mechanism. The other action that I believe transformed the balance of power was the ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment which altered the method for selecting U.S. senators from being appointed by their respective state legislatures to direct popular vote by the citizens of each state. The former constituents for senators were THE STATES. The amendment changed their obligations and loyalties to a more populism-oriented constituency. Surely there are additional developments that have altered the delicate balance envisioned by the Framers, but I suspect these two would make the “Power Shifting Hall of Fame.”

Even now with the additional power for the Supreme Court and the alteration of the senators’ fidelity, I believe the House of Representatives remains as the most powerful portion of the federal government … if the country follows constitutional law. Controlling the financial elements for most of the federal government should give the House extraordinary leverage for determining the policies and direction of the nation. As the direct representatives of the people, the House can protect the peoples’ interests from encroachment by the other branches and the bureaucracy. Clearly the House has failed in a number of ways. The House of Representatives with agreement by the Senate has ignored or abrogated some of its constitutional duties by transferring them to other governmental or private sector entities thus minimizing its oversight capabilities. The House has ignored its fiscal responsibilities by over spending and through massive borrowing to fund unconstitutional programs, departments, agencies and bureaus.

We have had inter-branch faceoffs in the past as one branch or another sought to increase its power or to preserve its niche. Some have been ugly, and others were subtle, but the bottom line is that the 3 branches of our federal government are NOT equal. If our federal government were operating in a constitutionally pure manner, the House would be the most powerful entity in the federal government because of its fiscal control. It’s true that the Congress cannot lower the pay of the sitting federal judges, but they can abolish and/or create federal circuits and judgeships at will. This, in effect, allows the Congress to rein in a runaway judiciary. Congress can refuse to fund various and sundry executive branch department, and thus, render them useless. Some people fear the power of the purse that is given to the “Peoples’ House,” but a dispute or confrontation between branches of government is to be preferred to all of them vigorously defending the government’s interests…..as they do now. We need balance. We do not need equality among the branches. In fact we need balance and counterbalance.

Comment:  cearlwriting@hotmail.com

www.littlestuff-minoosha.blogspot.com

Radio this week: Tue. & Wed., 6-7:00pm, 1370 WSPD

                              Friday, 3-6:00pm for Brian Wilson, www.wspd.com